Edge-ironing machine.



W. A. ZEIDLER. EDGE momma MACHINE.

I 7 APPLICATION FILED IAN-17 191. 1,171 ,912. Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

v SHEETS-SHEET l- WITNESSES w. A. ZEIDLER. 'EDGE momma MACHINE.

1 1 1 7 1. N A J D E IL H N W T A w L DI DI .A

Patented Feb. 8, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2 WITNESSES yn ronuzrt' 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

mymron W. 'A. ZEIDLER. EDGE IRONING MACHINE. APPLICATION r1150 JAN. 11, 1911.

Patented Feb. 8, 1916;

p 111135213:i; ll!

' WITNESSES UNITD STATES P WILLIA A. zninmmor NEW YORK, -1\T. Y.

EDGE-IRONING MACHINE.

- Specification 6r Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 8,1916.

Application filed January 17, 1911. Serial No. 603,109.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known thatI,

a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, in the county of New York and 5 State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Edge-Ironing Machines, of which the-following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved edge ironing machine for laundrying collars and ends, etc. It belongs to that class of' machines 1 where a'hot iron, or irons, are ap-v plied under considerable pressure against the edges of the article. In this type of machine there is a groove in each iron through which the edge of the article travels in contact. forced against the edge of thearticleso as to follow the varying contour or inclination I alized, to spring out of the groove of the iron especially when the irons moved through a large are such as occurs when the article first enters into contact therewith or such as occurs whenever anyunusually large variation in-contour was encountered. Next, resort was made to a construction in which the iron was arranged to slide trans versely to and away f1 om the article. This remedied the tendency of the .edge of the article to spring on: of the grooves in the irons but because the irons, being heated, made theni subject to such varying conditions of expansion and contraction that it was practically impossible to give them a proper easy sliding fit with their guides such as was absolutely necessary to enable the irons to follow without fail the entire contour of the edge of the article and at the same time deliver to it the full intended pressure delivered by the machine; In short,

the first 01' pivoted, construction was disad-h vantageous because the article jumped out of the grooves of the irons; and the second, or sliding, construction was disadvantageous because the heated irons stuck and failed to slide and properly co-act with the edges of the article.

Finally, there comes the-present improve WILLIAM A. ZEIDLER,

Furthermore, the iron is yieldingly,

of its edge. In this type ofmachine the de-' velopments have been as follows: First, the

ment herein claimed, which has the merit-of combining the good features of-both-of theprevious developments without their disadvantages. Thus, in it the iron is pivotally supported and so delivers its full pressurev without fail upon every part of the contour.

of the edge. At the same time, thearranger' ment is such that the article does not and cannot spring out of the grooves in the 1I'OI1S.' p A further improvement embodied" in this patent relatesto the guides that deliver the article with its freshly moistened edges to 'the irons. Thus, I form the contact portion of these guides into a groove having a spe cial wedgelike shape, whose sides support 1 the sides of the article immediately ad acent its edge at the same time that the bottom of. the groove bears against said edge which is thereby prevented from being flattened or compressed inwardly on itself. The same feature further prevents the points of a collar, especially a Winged collar,from being blunted and spoiled.

The specific nature of these improvements,- and all of the advantages inherent therein, will be apparent from the annexed drawings .in connection with the following de-- scription.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a partial view of. an edge ironing machine within my invention, shown partly in horizontal section and partly in plan,the upper portion of the machine, together with itsleft hand end, being omitted as not necessary to'an understanding of the present improvements Fig.

'2 is a side elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1 looking in the direction of the arrow; Fig.3 is a vertical section partly in eleva-' tion. on-the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 looking in they directionflof the arrow; Fig. 4 is a dia gramgiving an indication of the mounting and operation ofthe iron-supporting arms of which, however, only one is shown; Fig. ,5 is a'sectional view on the line 5-5 in Fig. 4 of an improved guide showing the article in operative relation thereto; and Fig. 6 is a corresponding view of the old form of guide. 1

- In the drawings, 1 is the base plate ofthe machine.

2 are standards at the sides of the base plate.

. 3 arerods projecting uprightly from the be made of rubber,

large diameter base plate at its right hand end in Figs. 1 and 2. I

4 and 4* are a pair of rolls supported one above the Other on axles 5. The latter have their bearings in the rods 3. The rolls may wood or suitable composition, or one roll may be made of rubber and the other of diverse material. The lower roll is centrally grooved to' receive a belt 6 countersunk in the groove. The stretches of this belt extend centrally over the base plate, the lower stretch a passing between the sides of a fork 7 acting as a guide and thence under a suitably j ournaled idle pulley 8. The upper stretch 1) passes under a pulley 9, mounted on an axle l0 journaled in the side standards 2 of the machine frame. This pulley is of relatively and this stretch of the belt thence passes upwardly around a suitable upper'pulley or roll (not shown) and then downwardly 'to connect with the lower stretch a of the belt. Furthermore the belt 6 passes around a drive pulley (not shown) which causes the belt to travel in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 2. This causes the lower roll 4 to rotate in anti-clockwise direction and the upper'roll in the reverse direction due to its contact with the lower roll.

An article such as a collar fed to the rolls will be carried between them on top of the upper stretch of the belt 6 so that it's forward end is gripped between said belt and 'the large pulley 9, whereupon the article is tension spring 14 connecting carried around the said pulley and upwardly and out of the machine. Just prior to pass ing around this pulley 9, the edges of the article are moistened by means as follows: 12 are a pair of moistening wheels preferably made of wood with cavities 12 in their, top to receive the water which trickles to the outside surface of the wheels through apertures 12 in the wallsof the cavities. The wheels are supported on horizontally swinging arms 13. These pivot about the vertical standards 3 and are provided at their front ends with upright pins 13 received into sockets in the bottom of the moistening wheels so that the wheels freely .rotate about the said pins as an axis; The arms are given normal tendency toward each other so as to keep the wheels at all times inyielding con tact with the edges of the article by a spiral the arms. The entering corners of the article fed between the rolls first contact with the inner edges of these arms 13 and force them apart sufficiently to permit the article to enter between the moistening wheels and thus to travel forward with its edges in contact therewith. To support the article above and below during this operation, the usual top -and bottom plates 14: are provided secured to the arms and spaced apart sufliciently to allow 'first contacts with the the thickness of the article to pass between t em.

15 are water troughs supported by connections 16 from the respective swinging arms, said troughs each having an outlet 15 located over the cavities in the respective moistening wheels. .Thus, water delivered into these troughs finds its way into the caviconverging toward each other.

The irons of the machine are shown at 17,

one on each side of the pulley 9 so as tocontact with the two edges of the article as itpasses. upwardly around the pulley. The contact face of the irons is provided with the usual groove 17" in which the edges of the article travel. The irons are heated as usual by gas burners under them. 1

ties of the moistening wheels and thence to 1 I passingaround'the pulley, and

The guides 16 and'irons 17 are supported by arms 18 which swing horizontally about vertical pivots 19 at the right hand end of the machine, and therefore far removed from the irons themselves which are considerably beyond the center of the machine toward its left hand end. Furthermore, the I pivots 19 are near the medianline of the base plate. Preferably they are located as shown by the diagram in Fig. 4 wherein it is seen that they are not in direct alinement with the normal or innermost position of the faces of the irons, but are positioned somewhat outside of said positions of true alinement,in fact, are so positioned, preferably, about one-half the entire average throw of the irons arising from the passage of the articles. This disposition of the pivots and the great length of the arms causes the irons, and consequently-their grooves, to move laterally in practically astraight line perpendicular to the travel of the article with the result, therefore, that the edges of the article have no tendency to spring out of the grooves.

The arms 18 after they leave the pivots have a general U-shaped formation so as to clear the inclosed parts of the machine. (See plan view Fig. l). Mounted on the legs of the Us adjacent the ironsare the previously described guides 16. The irons are secured on the upper end of these guides with their grooves registering with the exits of the guides.

The article with its edges moistened passes forward to the pulley 9 and its entering end ribs 16 of the guides,

forcing'them gradually apart and consequentlymoving the arms and the iron sufiiciently to permit the article to pass between the ironswith the base of the grooves of the latter in contact with the edges of the article. The contact of the irons with the article is .a strong yielding pressure brought about by a tension spiral spring 20 connecting the Us of the arms. The tension of this spring is adjustable. Thus 21 is a rod secured to one end of the spring and having a threaded portion 21 passing through a lug 22 on one of the'arms beyond which said threaded portion is engaged by a knurled nut 23, from which the tension of the spring can be varied in obvious manner.

Means are provided for limiting the inward tendency of the irons under the action of the spring 20, said means consisting of stops 24 secured to. the side standards 2 and engaging the irons after they have reached the limit of their innermost throw.

It remains now to point out the other improvement whereby the guides 16 that conduct thearticles to the irons are such as not to compress and spoil the moistened points and edges of the article. This is accomplished by forming the contact edge of the ribs 16 of the guides into a V-shaped groove which prevents the moistened, and consequently softened, edge of the article from being flattened by supporting the sides of said edge with the sides of the groove, thereby preventing said sides from bulging and the points and edges of the article from being flattened and spoiled. The beneficial action of the improved guide upon" the edge of the article is illustrated in Fig. 5, whereas the detrimental action upon the article of the old form of guide is shown in Fig. '6.

It will be understood in connection with the claims that the expressions horizontal,

vertical, etc., are only relative and not ab-.

solute terms, because, if the latter, they could be evaded by merely operating the machine of the drawings on its side. Accordingly, it is understood that these expressions in the claims will be construed as being merely 'relative'terms convenient for relatively far distant from the iron and being located in the general direction of the plane .of the contact face of the iron, and a guide ahead of theiron having ribs converging to the grooves in the iron, the feed means feeding the article edgewise through the groove' in the iron, substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

2. 'In an edge 1ron1ng machine, the com bination of an iron, an arm, means for feeding the article, the iron having a vertically horizontal plane, the pivot of said arm being grooved contact face and being supported on ,the arm which is pivoted to swing in a horizontal plane, the pivot of said arm being relatively far distant from the iron'and being located about one-half the average throw of the iron outside a position of true alinement with the contact face of the iron, and guides ahead of the iron having ribs converging to the grooves in the iron, the feed means feeding the article edgewise through the groove in the iron and said iron pressing yieldingly against the edge of the iron, substantially Y forth.

3. In an edge ironing machine, the combination of irons having grooved contact faces,-means for feeding the articles to the 'irons, and guides ahead of thei'rons having contact ribs converging to the grooves in the irons, said r1bs being grooved to provide converging side Walls which support the-sides of the'article adjacent its edge.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM A. ZEIDLER. 4 Witnesses:

E. W. Scrrnnn, Jr., EDNA A. MORELAND.

as and for the purpose set 

